Walking In A Winter Wonderland

I asked her to wait until Christmas - and she basically did. Jillian has been taking 4-6 steps for awhile and then pitching herself forward, sitting down or grabbing on to whatever was near. On Christmas Day we were at my parents' house and Jillian was the only kid there. She got sole possession of the Leap Frog Train, and pushed it all over the place. It was like walking boot camp in a way because soon she took 8 steps and then 10 and so on. Here's a short video from yesterday.

Christmas Morning At Home

This year was again filled with travelling to different locations for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We are very lucky to have our family so close and so even all the travelling we do isn't that bad. We still felt fortunate to carve out a few hours to ourselves on Christmas morning. I made pancakes and we settled down to open some gifts. We got Jillian five gifts this year (that's up from the 0 we got her last year). She got blocks, a pull telephone, a Little People mini van (that she still hasn't opened - it's under the tree right now) and two Roxy dresses that dad picked out. Jillian still doesn't quite get the opening of gifts. She liked to rip one or two pieces of paper, then she stopped. If she found a piece of tape it was all over - her attention could not be returned to the gift inside the wrapping. Maybe next year...

Jillian At {Almost} 13 months

I haven't really done a check-in post lately (or any posts as several people have pointed out - sorry!). Here is a little bit about Jillian JoAnn Lewko:

• At her 1 year appointment she weighed 19 lbs, 11 oz. (25% percentile). She is in the 50th percentile for height (enjoy it while you can, sweetheart) and the 25th-50th for head circumference.
• She still isn't walking. She can take 3-4 steps but then stops and sits down or pitches herself forward and falls. Mama is still not in a rush.
• She says and signs so many things! She likes to repeat words once you say them and so it is hard to tell the words she knows. I try to only allow them to the "list" when she will say them without prompting. Signs she knows/does: More, Eat, Milk. Words she knows/says: More, Mama, Dada, Balloon, Up, Cheese, Hi. She is practicing more and more everyday.
• Her beautiful, glorious, wonderful habit of sleeping through the night has been interrupted for the past 2 weeks or so and she has had frequent night wakings. Bummer for her and for us. She usually only requires our attention once during these wakings. Often she'll toss and turn for a bit and then fall back asleep. I really want her to go back to the wonder of 10+ hours of continuous sleep!
• She is learning to climb. First the stairs. Now she is working on her little chair, the couch and the dishwasher, which as you can see, she has mastered. I actually took this when I was at home by myself with her one weekend. I was doing dishes at the sink while she was playing with the detergent tray of the dishwasher. I look down at her and she had climbed up onto the door. So funny. Jason came home at that moment and I called him in right away to look at our silly girl.
• 8 (?) teeth and counting. We can't really tell how many teeth our girl has. As far as I know it is 8 but about a month ago she was pretty fussy and drooling and we thought for sure new teeth were coming. Not that we've seen or felt. But you do risk amputation by putting your fingers in that cute little mouth.
• We are still having so much fun with her. I am struggling to be the best mom that I can be while balancing work, my marriage and life in general. It doesn't always (or often...) work out the way I imagine or idealize but I am working on accepting the joys life brings and not trying to make myself and others something we are not.

Riding on Her Car

Jillian loves her new ride-on car. She can even make a car noise, though in this video it turns into raspberries. She is so inquisitive and it is amazing to watch how her mind works.

Jillian's First Birthday Party

Jillian shares her toys with her guests.

We held Jillian's 1st birthday party about a week ago at my parents' house.

We invited some of her friends. Here she is with Ava Yates.

Emma Stephens, Jillian and Ava play with giant legos. All three girls played great together.

Mama and her baby girl.

Sarah made all the desserts.

Yes, all the desserts.

She is very talented. Jillian is very lucky to have such a loving aunt!

Contemplating her cake while we serenade her.

Really digging in.